


chipping at the gilding

by ultalumna (yujael)



Series: smile, goldfinch (as you look daemons in the eye) [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 11:06:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19440190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujael/pseuds/ultalumna
Summary: They're a little more late to the game than they meant to be, but that doesn't change how well they fit together.





	chipping at the gilding

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, nothing but a good, chill time! This is, as it happens, one of the only fills I chose where Prompto has a Good Time™ which is really my own fault. 
> 
> The original prompt was: Prompto/Noctis, matching soulmate mark AU; Prompto never worked up the courage to ask Noctis to be friends, so they go to school together but aren’t close. One day Noctis’s soulmate mark is photographed by paparazzi and goes viral on social media. Prompto sees it.
> 
> I was going to go the most obvious route, but I decided instead to try a third-party looking in sort of deal.

Ignis steps into the apartment with a tablet and a straight face, just like all the times before. They’ve run so many checks on fake marks, it’s to the point where it isn’t a normal day without having to go through several.

“Can I kick him out now?” Gladio asks. For the sake of civility, he’s not allowed to toss kids out on their asses until there’s hard proof that they aren’t the prince’s soulmate.

“No,” Ignis says.

Which is not nearly as surprising as when Noctis shoves him and says, “No, quit it.”

Gladio blinks at Ignis for an answer. He’s not gonna believe what Noctis is insinuating until he’s heard it from all parties. “Are you serious?”

Ignis nods once and folds his hands behind his back. “Prompto’s mark is genuine and a perfect match to Noct’s. They’re matched.”

“I told you we didn’t have to go through all this with him,” Noctis says. He’s too smug for Gladio’s liking.

“Rules are rules,” he says after flicking him on the back of the neck. He’s gotta get it in while he’s ahead because he’s only met Prompto all of one time during the year he and Noctis have known each other, but they were practically glued at the hips until Gladio pried Noctis away. They were fast friends, which doesn’t really explain the anxiousness Prompto had displayed when revealing his mark according to Noctis.

Or maybe it does. Who is he to argue if Noctis got matched with a good egg in the end?

“Did you let him out of baby jail yet?” Noctis asks impatiently. His phone is in his hand, but there are no new messages from Prompto.

Ignis sighs under his breath, but in a good-natured way as he backs up toward the door. “I’ve done one better.”

He ducks out into the hallway and returns after a scant few seconds with the man of the hour on his tail. Prompto waves as he enters and Noctis brightens as soon as he sets eyes on him. It makes it all the more painfully obvious that the whole song and dance wasn’t necessary. Not for them.

“It’s a match,” Prompto announces like it was some surprise as Noctis all but topples the both of them onto the couch. 

Gladio decides to give them the moment and not say anything about his shaking hands. He circles around the living room to the kitchen instead, where Ignis is contemplating the stock in Noctis’ fridge. 

“I was surprised, at first,” Ignis muses softly.

“About the marks?”

Ignis shakes his head. “That someone had approached Noctis after his mark hit the public--not even to reveal his mark, even though he knew it matched. If anything, Prompto was determined to _hide_ it until now.”

“Sounds like a good thing, if you ask me,” Gladio says. “The mark isn't everything. Feels more natural this way.” 

“Indeed,” Ignis agrees. “Either way, I’m pleased that Noctis has found a friend. It’s been far too long.”

It has. Noctis will be in his final year of high school once the term starts again. His entire school career is too long to go without someone to hang with. No more of that, though. Noctis is brighter, now. More than Gladio ever remembers him being.

When Gladio glances back into the living room, Noctis and Prompto are a jumbled mess of limbs pushing at each other in twin efforts to distract each other from their game. The topic of soulmates has come and gone with no place in their race for a high score. 

The endless parade of false marks will finally stop and Gladio’s relief at that is almost enough to overshadow the harsh reality in the fact that it’s going to be even harder now to get Noctis to stop being distracted by Prompto. They’re going to be insufferable.

||| * |||

“Hey,” Noctis murmurs when the lights are out and the curtains are drawn. “Why’d you wait so long?”

They’re sharing the bed because that’s what they do during sleepovers. It’s never once been awkward. Prompto still buries his head under his side of the blanket. 

“Hey, c’mon.” Noctis prods him, nudges him out from under the covers. He can barely see, but Prompto is pink across his cheeks. “What’s that for?”

“I just--there was that whole shit storm in the media,” Prompto explains haltingly. “I didn’t want anybody to think that’s why I was talking to you.”

“Was it?”

Prompto presses his lips together tightly before hazarding an answer. “Kind of? I actually… wanted to talk to you way sooner. I wanted to be your friend. But I didn’t work up the guts. But then that picture of your mark was everywhere and I saw it and I thought, I dunno, maybe someone was rooting for me.”

“Well, yeah,” Noctis says in a laugh. “I am. You should have talked to me way sooner.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Prompto says, smiling through the restlessness in his hands. Noctis grabs one and tugs until Prompto’s arm is wrapped around him. “Sometimes I just can’t believe it. I’m glad, though.”

“Same,” Noctis says through a yawn, curling one of his legs over Prompto’s. “We have major catching up to do. Tomorrow. In the afternoon.”

Prompto snickers. “Gotcha.”

He settles in closer, calmer, and everything fits perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a tumblr now! I actually made it a while ago but it's been empty since then, but there's finally some activity on it in my effort to get back into the swing of writing. It's at ultalumna, same as here. I mumble about writing and post snippets of wips there, and you can totally shoot me a message :D


End file.
